Golden State Warriors assistant coach Keith Smart, subbing for Don Nelson because of illness, complains about a call during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in Dallas.

It took Don Nelson's absence Tuesday night to produce a glimpse of the Warriors' future. It wasn't so much the 111-103 victory in Dallas - although the team's stretch-drive play was positively invigorating - but rather the look and feel of a performance achieved with just six players.

The key to the Warriors' future is change, and they won't make a hint of progress until Nelson retires. That's just the simple truth. It sounds particularly cruel now, with the storied coach fighting a case of pneumonia, but that has to be the message of the get-well card:

Get some rest, Nellie. You're about to turn 70, for God's sake, so let Joy take good care of you. Forget about the road, the hotel bars, the all-time wins record and your deeply flawed team. Your body is sending you a message. Get well, and stay home.

Nelson was right last month when he said a coach his age deserves a veteran roster, a bunch of seasoned players who know how to nail down tough victories on the road. He could do wonders with such a group, maybe carve out one last bit of playoff magic. He could also be the king of Spain, while we're dealing in fantasy.

There's no need to waste much time spelling out the reality. Nelson has a young, mistake-prone team with painfully little playoff experience. He's part of a comically inept front office that perpetuates the team's legacy of failure. He has alienated all of his key players at some point, and departed Warriors speak of him disparagingly. The league-wide word on Nelson is so drenched in negativity that no frontline free agent has any interest in coming here.

So that's the future under Nelson: None. Take it back 20 years, to the prime of his life, and it's an entirely different story. There's no denying the brilliance and innovation Nelson brought to the coaching fraternity, and the unbridled excitement he brought to the team's loyal fan base. But we see him now as a worn, beaten man in his courtside demeanor and media interviews - and that was before he became so ill, doctors insisted he stay home.

For Nelson to come back now, to force his way onto the bench at the soonest possible opportunity, wouldn't just be stubborn. It would feed into the Warriors' malaise, something that can only be stopped by massive, dramatic change.

Keith Smart may not be the answer as Nelson's successor, and I'm sure he'd only accept the job in a climate of fairness and integrity. But he clearly is Nelson's handpicked successor, and the transition would be infinitely easier if Nelson were to step down for health reasons.

Here's what we don't know:

-- Whether Nelson, despite comments to the contrary, desperately wants to break Lenny Wilkens' record for coaching victories (he needs 19 more) and will stick around through next season (when his contract expires), if that's what it takes.

-- Whether owner Chris Cohan and his right-hand man, Robert Rowell, have any idea how bad things are - on any front - and would have the guts to trigger Nelson's exit process.

-- Whether Monta Ellis, by far the Warriors' most influential (and tradable) player, would feel so completely unburdened in Nelson's absence that he would make a full emotional commitment to the team.

If Tuesday night's game was any indication, Ellis has plenty of reasons to stay. This is unquestionably a better team without Stephen Jackson - at least the flighty, erratic Jackson we were forced to watch until he was traded to Charlotte - and it is Monta's team. He suddenly has as much freedom as any player in the NBA, a green light to pull up for jump shots, drive the lane without bothering to pass, or whatever else comes to mind. He's so exceptionally talented and so remarkably comfortable with a 48-minute assignment that almost all of it makes sense.

A bigger issue, for the team's well-being, is Nelson. I've heard from a lot of fans recently, people who revere Nelson for his career and what he has done for the Bay Area. They aren't "haters," but rather folks who have defended him, constantly, through all the turmoil. They're sending him that get-well card, at least in their minds, but they're hoping he just stays home. Removing all that stress just might add years to his life - and allow a tormented franchise to start building anew.